Helen Stinson University of York First PhD seminar/event Edinburgh - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Welfare Conditionality PhD Seminar

Helen Stinson

University of York

First PhD seminar/event Edinburgh 26th-27th March 2015

1

Coping with conditionality? An exploration of the impact of welfare conditionality

Background

• Collaborative PhD partnered with the Joseph

Rowntree Foundation

– First collaborative PhD studentship with JRF – Opportunity to directly inform wider welfare conditionality project and JRF anti-poverty research – Two fully funded 12 week internship in years 1 and 2 of the PhD

Project focus

Exploration of impact of intensified welfare conditionality and the application

• f sanctions on the lives of vulnerable people

In particular:

• 1. Excluded from welfare services
• 2. Reluctant to access welfare
• 3. Unable to engage with mainstream welfare system

Research objectives

• 1. Explore the impact of conditional welfare and associated sanctions
• 2. Map the number, extent and type of sanctions applied
• 3. Assess the direct and indirect effects of sanctions on decisions to

disengage from mainstream welfare provision

• 4. Consider the role of statutory and non-statutory agencies in meeting

the needs of those unable to access welfare resources

• 5. Explore the strategies and responses of vulnerable people unable to or

reluctant to access welfare services

Vulnerable groups

Potential vulnerable groups mentioned in research proposal:

• Sex workers
• Homeless
• Offenders
• Migrants
• Disabled people

Work so far…

• Exploration of the narratives surrounding vulnerability discourse
• Exploration of the historical shifts that surround concepts of

conditionality and citizenship

• Exploration into how these vulnerability narratives are employed

within the current conditional welfare system

• Identification of main conditional welfare policies for each vulnerable

group

• Exploration of how vulnerability discourse has historically shaped and

continues to shape different policy strategies

• Exploration of the current impact of conditionality and sanctions upon

the lives of vulnerable people

• Initial Meeting with JRF

Core themes

• Role of vulnerability narratives in the legitimacy and/or exclusion

from welfare support

• Extension of social divisions due to conditionality
• Ideas of care vs. control
• Inter-subjectivity between vulnerable groups and the impact upon the

lived experiences of conditionality

Methodological approach

Realistic evaluation framework:

• Theory driven process
• Tests and refines underlying assumptions of conditionality
• Identify key features that render conditionality successful or
• therwise in outcomes
• Offer a clearer understanding on how conditionality and

sanctions will work, for whom and in what context and what respect

Next steps…

• 1. Identify core themes to frame research
• 2. Select vulnerable groups to explore further
• 3. Identify initial research questions
• 4. Attend JRF internship June-August
• 5. Start to explore methodology further

Thank you!